Syrian insurgents possess chemical weapons, and Russia has given proof that they have used these weapons on Syrian territory to the UN Security Council, Russian State Duma international affairs committee head Alexei Pushkov said at a Duma plenary session on Wednesday.

Syrian insurgents possess chemical weapons, and Russia has given proof that they have used these weapons on Syrian territory to the UN Security Council, Russian State Duma international affairs committee head Alexei Pushkov said at a Duma plenary session on Wednesday.

The Duma plans to issue a statement on the situation in Syria later in the day.

"There are reasons to presume that not only the Syrian government but also the militants possess [chemical weapons]," Pushkov said. "There are suspicions that the militants have used these weapons repeatedly," he said.

Pushkov claimed that, in particular, Syrian insurgents used chemical weapons near Aleppo in March and that this was acknowledged by Carla Del Ponte, a member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Saying that Moscow possesses evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Pushkov said, "Russia has just passed existing proof to the UN Security Council."